Jalen Hurts was just about to head to the locker room with a concussion on Sunday afternoon. The Philadelphia Eagles had a lead in Washington at the time, but they knew they’d be in trouble with their starting quarterback out.
But Saquon Barkley knew exactly what to do.
On the Eagles’ eighth play after Hurts left, with the offense already showing signs of stagnating, Barkley took a handoff from backup quarterback Kenny Pickett, started up the middle, cut left, froze one defender, found a hole, and out-raced the Commanders defense down the sideline. He ripped off a 68-yard touchdown run — the big play the Eagles needed at exactly the right moment. It reminded everyone that he can carry a team on his back.
Saquon Barkley rushes for an INCREDIBLE 68-yard TD
No, the Eagles didn’t win that game. But they’ve been winning a lot this season, mostly because of the addition of Barkley. He has transformed an offense that was often lost last season. He’s turned the Eagles into bullies with their ground game, which has been virtually unstoppable. He has given them their identity. He’s made them a Super Bowl contender again.
That’s why, even though the voters love to give this award to quarterbacks, Barkley should be this year’s NFL MVP.
The numbers that Barkley has put up in his first season in Philadelphia clearly put him in the MVP chase. Through 15 games he has 1,838 rushing yards, which is already 526 more than his previous career high and 202 than any other running back in the league. He has a shot at becoming the ninth NFL back to break the 2,000-yard barrier, and the NFL rushing record of 2,105 yards isn’t out of reach either.
He’s topped 100 rushing yards in 10 of his 15 games. He ripped through the Rams in Los Angeles for 255 yards and two touchdowns right before Thanksgiving. He’s had multiple touchdowns in six games. He helped the Eagles hold the ball for the final 10:29 of their win over the Steelers two weeks ago. He’s just the third running back in NFL history to have four touchdowns of 60 yards or longer.
Whatever the Eagles have needed Barkley to do, he’s found a way to get it done.
And the numbers are only part of his story. This Eagles team was a mess before he arrived. They might have had the NFL’s best offensive line, but they lost faith in their ground game last season. Their offense was adrift because of it. They couldn’t figure out what their identity was anymore. It was a big reason why they lost six of their final seven games.
And then along came Saquon Barkley, a gift from the rival New York Giants in the offseason. At a time when running backs were being devalued all over the league, where teams thought they were interchangeable and not worth big investments, Barkley got the Eagles to commit to a three-year, $37.5 million deal with $26 million guaranteed.
Then he went out and proved to everyone he was probably worth a whole lot more. The Eagles saw it immediately, too. In fact, when they went into the bye week with just a 2-2 record, some of the offensive linemen met with Eagles coach Nick Sirianni and told him that if they were going to start winning like they used to, Barkley would be the reason why.
“A lot of it was, we’ve got Saquon Barkley back there,” right tackle Lane Johnson told reporters. “Let’s f—ing give him the ball.”
The Eagles did and then they became him. Yes, they have Hurts and two dynamic receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, and the NFL’s top-ranked defense, too. But Barkley is what they are. They live off their devastating rushing attack, one that can ground teams down all game long, then explode on them for big runs and the most opportune time.
“He’s got top-end speed. He can hit the home run,” said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, before Barkley was held to just 65 yards against Pittsburgh, his second-lowest output of the season. “He’s good in tight spaces. He can get downhill. He can lower his pads. He’s got good lateral abilities. He can make people miss.
“He’s just a really complete player. He’s been dominant. Eye-opening at times.”
Even so, it will be hard for Barkley to win this award, despite the remarkable season he’s having. The voters have made it clear over the last 17 years that this is a quarterback award more than anything else. There hasn’t been a running back to win it since 2012, and Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson needed to take a run at the NFL rushing record to do it (he finished with 2,097 yards, the second-best total in league history). And he still only got about 61 percent of the vote (Colts quarterback Peyton Manning got the rest).
That figures to be a significant obstacle this season too. The way quarterback Josh Allen has carried the Buffalo Bills will hold a lot of sway when the ballots are turned in. But even he hasn’t been as consistently dominant as Barkley has been this season. Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson will have a shot at winning the award for the second straight season too, but voters will first have to decide whether he or running back Derrick Henry is the MVP of his own team.
There is no doubt in Philadelphia. When Hurts has struggled, Barkley has been there. When Hurts has thrived, Barkley has been there too. And when Hurts was out, Barkley came through in the clutch before the Commanders loaded up the line of scrimmage with nearly their entire defense in the second half in an attempt to try and shut him down.
And through it all, Barkley has been what he always was during those difficult, injury-filled first six seasons with the New York Giants. He’s been a positive influence in the locker room, a leader on the team from the day he arrived.
“His will and want-to is on display 24-7,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said last month. “It doesn’t stop, it doesn’t waver. He’s very encouraging, always talking to us, always communicating on what he’s seeing on what he wants. And it’s Saquon Barkley, man, whatever he says, you’re like, ‘Yes, sir.'”
Considering how many stars were already in Philadelphia when he arrived — including along the offensive line — taking a leadership role couldn’t have been easy to do. Barkley was coming from a perennial loser. The Giants had gone 34-64-1 in his time in New York, with double-digit losses in five of his six seasons. Most of his new teammates, meanwhile, had experienced nothing but winning. They had even lost a Super Bowl just 13 months earlier.
They didn’t care about MVP awards or yards or anything else. All they wanted to do was win.
And they quickly found out that’s what Barkley came to do.
“I love being in that (MVP) conversation,” Barkley said last month. “It’s cool and all. But if you tell me that I could have the year I’m having and win an MVP but not win a Super Bowl, or I can have the year I’m having and not win MVP or offensive player of the year and win a Super Bowl, I’m going to take the other one.”
He made that clear on his first day as an Eagle, as he looked around in awe at the talent around him. And those talented players looked back, realizing that as good as the Eagles have been, even during their Super Bowl run two years ago, they’ve never played with a player quite like Barkley.
“Saquon,” Sirianni said, “is a special player.”
Everyone knew he was. Everyone knew that once he got out of New York and played behind a real offensive line, he’d show the world that, as former Giants general manager Dave Gettleman once said about him, he “was touched by the hand of God.”
He’s shown that and more in every game this season. He’s proved his worth. He’s proved his value.
And the voters should recognize that there is no one in the NFL this season more valuable than him.
Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.
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